Underbelly is a non-verbal somatic practice (embodied meditation) where we reclaim our slow in a fast and overwhelming world. Our dominant culture survives on speed, which keeps problematic and oppressive structures in place at the devastating cost of our well-being and planetary health. Underbelly is a somatic response to the loss of slowness in an increasingly urgent world drowning in climate collapse, AI threat, technological addiction, diseased capitalism and polarization, as well as historical nervous system trauma from continuing racism, colonialism, and patriarchy. It's time to acknowledge that we are standing at a terrifying precipice. Instead of pushing through injury or confusion, we cultivate a willingness to know things as they stand. It's time to surrender the rush and instead, show up with our heartbreak to encounter what is becoming. It's time to dismantle the hurry and have a conversation with the present moment.
This practice helps us explore the art of slowing down with ourselves, each other, and our current environment. There is space to metabolize our emotions, strengthen empathy and intuition, and develop an intimate relationship with our bodies and the world around us. We practice being in the questions themselves- listening and yielding to the intelligence of life without pushing, controlling, or fixing. Room is made for nuance, complexity and paradox. Our individuation and togetherness are felt in a group field—deepening our presence and attunement with one another, co-regulating our nervous systems, being held, witnessed, considered, and noticed exactly as we are. We meet ourselves AS IS, without grasping for more, escaping, transcending, or resigning. We re-learn what it is to be relational instead of transactional. To commune instead of consume. To be of service instead of self-serving. To rest back into more vastness and organicity, releasing tight circuits of linearity, programming and conditioning we've inherited or been entrained to. Spend quality time with your body, breath, and being. Come back to the foundations. Sink back into reverence. Say a prayer. Voyage beneath the surface of our fast culture, and dive into a slow sanctuary for unearthing what is alive, tender, and honest for you in every moment.
This experience is not a solution, method, workshop or teaching of tools. It is not a business, ceremony, or ecstatic dance. It is a somatic gathering space that supports bodily intelligence, nervous system co-regulation, ample rest, and radical self/community care. Every Underbelly experience varies depending on what is alive in the group field at that given time. All movement forms are welcome (authentic/personal movement, sensory/somatic movement, contact (improv) inspired movement etc). So is resting, pausing, meditating, stillness etc. Participants may explore being solo or discovering connection with others.
No prior experience necessary, just an open mind/heart.
Music: emotional, slow, deep, meditative, experimental, film scores, nature sounds, ambient, soulful, silent, and live. Listen on Spotify!
When/Where:
In-person sessions: Join the mailing list to get all the invites!
December 2023 schedule below:
West Coast Arts Foundation, San Rafael
1554 4th St. (entrance is in the parking lot)
1st/3rd Mondays: December 4th and 18th
7-9:30pm
The Alembic, Berkeley
2820 Seventh St.
2nd/4th Mondays: December 11th (and no UB on the 25th)
7-10pm
Insight Timer app/ YouTube sessions are now available! Follow, subscribe, share :)
What to Expect:
1) Arrival (container will CLOSE 15 min after start time, please show up on time! Leaving early is permitted): This is a time to unwind on your own and find your way into your body.
2) 40 minute facilitated opening (guided somatic meditation, helping the body have a conversation with the present moment)
3) Deep dive (a time for your own body to guide you while immersed in music)
4) Facilitated closing (closing meditation and simply being with one another in the quiet)
Contribution
~Sliding scale: $15 and up (pay at the door)
~$15 helps cover our rental space. Anything over is your contribution to those experiencing financial hardship and a donation to the facilitator. Give what allows you to feel generous, not contracted.
~If you are experiencing financial hardship, please let us know, no one will be turned away.
~Pre-pandemic passes no longer valid/no refunds.
~Ways to contribute:
1) Venmo: @amy-rogg (last 4 phone digits 0330). When sessions are at The Alembic, you'll pay them: @BerkeleyAlembic
2) Paypal: payment link here
3) Cash
4) Support us on Patreon
Covid Protocol:
~Please do not attend if you have been risky, exposed, have symptoms, or have just come off a plane.
~Rapid/antigen testing always encouraged.
~Mask as needed.
About the Creator:
Amy Rogg (she/her) is an activator and nurturer of the human spirit. She is half Taiwanese/half Jewish, born in Denver Colorado and raised mostly in the Bay Area. She is the conduit, creator, and facilitator of Underbelly: The Art of Slowing Down. Amy has a B.A. in television/film production and studied acting/improv in Los Angeles. She has also taught yoga (E-RYT 500), meditation, and somatic/relational movement for the past decade.
Some of her inspirations: nature, GAGA, Hakomi, Continuum, The Artist's Way, Movement Liberation, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen Jenkinson, Gabor Maté, Anna Halprin, Resmaa Menakem, Sarah Blondin, Bill Plotkin, Marc-André Leclerc, Jeong Kwan, Yat Malmgren, Qi Gong, Yoga, Contact Improvisation, Open Floor, Ecstatic Dance, Dancing Freedom, 5 Rhythms, Soul Motion, her mama (in spirit), and romantic relationships.
Instagram: @amyrogg
Facebook page: here
Please read the Underbelly Code of Conduct and Logistics here
This practice helps us explore the art of slowing down with ourselves, each other, and our current environment. There is space to metabolize our emotions, strengthen empathy and intuition, and develop an intimate relationship with our bodies and the world around us. We practice being in the questions themselves- listening and yielding to the intelligence of life without pushing, controlling, or fixing. Room is made for nuance, complexity and paradox. Our individuation and togetherness are felt in a group field—deepening our presence and attunement with one another, co-regulating our nervous systems, being held, witnessed, considered, and noticed exactly as we are. We meet ourselves AS IS, without grasping for more, escaping, transcending, or resigning. We re-learn what it is to be relational instead of transactional. To commune instead of consume. To be of service instead of self-serving. To rest back into more vastness and organicity, releasing tight circuits of linearity, programming and conditioning we've inherited or been entrained to. Spend quality time with your body, breath, and being. Come back to the foundations. Sink back into reverence. Say a prayer. Voyage beneath the surface of our fast culture, and dive into a slow sanctuary for unearthing what is alive, tender, and honest for you in every moment.
This experience is not a solution, method, workshop or teaching of tools. It is not a business, ceremony, or ecstatic dance. It is a somatic gathering space that supports bodily intelligence, nervous system co-regulation, ample rest, and radical self/community care. Every Underbelly experience varies depending on what is alive in the group field at that given time. All movement forms are welcome (authentic/personal movement, sensory/somatic movement, contact (improv) inspired movement etc). So is resting, pausing, meditating, stillness etc. Participants may explore being solo or discovering connection with others.
No prior experience necessary, just an open mind/heart.
Music: emotional, slow, deep, meditative, experimental, film scores, nature sounds, ambient, soulful, silent, and live. Listen on Spotify!
When/Where:
In-person sessions: Join the mailing list to get all the invites!
December 2023 schedule below:
West Coast Arts Foundation, San Rafael
1554 4th St. (entrance is in the parking lot)
1st/3rd Mondays: December 4th and 18th
7-9:30pm
The Alembic, Berkeley
2820 Seventh St.
2nd/4th Mondays: December 11th (and no UB on the 25th)
7-10pm
Insight Timer app/ YouTube sessions are now available! Follow, subscribe, share :)
What to Expect:
1) Arrival (container will CLOSE 15 min after start time, please show up on time! Leaving early is permitted): This is a time to unwind on your own and find your way into your body.
2) 40 minute facilitated opening (guided somatic meditation, helping the body have a conversation with the present moment)
3) Deep dive (a time for your own body to guide you while immersed in music)
4) Facilitated closing (closing meditation and simply being with one another in the quiet)
Contribution
~Sliding scale: $15 and up (pay at the door)
~$15 helps cover our rental space. Anything over is your contribution to those experiencing financial hardship and a donation to the facilitator. Give what allows you to feel generous, not contracted.
~If you are experiencing financial hardship, please let us know, no one will be turned away.
~Pre-pandemic passes no longer valid/no refunds.
~Ways to contribute:
1) Venmo: @amy-rogg (last 4 phone digits 0330). When sessions are at The Alembic, you'll pay them: @BerkeleyAlembic
2) Paypal: payment link here
3) Cash
4) Support us on Patreon
Covid Protocol:
~Please do not attend if you have been risky, exposed, have symptoms, or have just come off a plane.
~Rapid/antigen testing always encouraged.
~Mask as needed.
About the Creator:
Amy Rogg (she/her) is an activator and nurturer of the human spirit. She is half Taiwanese/half Jewish, born in Denver Colorado and raised mostly in the Bay Area. She is the conduit, creator, and facilitator of Underbelly: The Art of Slowing Down. Amy has a B.A. in television/film production and studied acting/improv in Los Angeles. She has also taught yoga (E-RYT 500), meditation, and somatic/relational movement for the past decade.
Some of her inspirations: nature, GAGA, Hakomi, Continuum, The Artist's Way, Movement Liberation, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen Jenkinson, Gabor Maté, Anna Halprin, Resmaa Menakem, Sarah Blondin, Bill Plotkin, Marc-André Leclerc, Jeong Kwan, Yat Malmgren, Qi Gong, Yoga, Contact Improvisation, Open Floor, Ecstatic Dance, Dancing Freedom, 5 Rhythms, Soul Motion, her mama (in spirit), and romantic relationships.
Instagram: @amyrogg
Facebook page: here
Please read the Underbelly Code of Conduct and Logistics here